Page 16 - Christie's Hong Kong May 30, 2017 Zhang Daqian
P. 16

A resplendent vision rendered on magnificent scale, Ancient
       Temples Amidst Clouds is a masterpiece that can hardly be
       surpassed in sublimity or grandeur within Zhang Daqian’s
       splashed-ink and splashed-colour oeuvre.With extraordinary
       technical virtuosity, the artist conjures a glorious sight
       to behold: a mountain splintering the sky, shrouded
       by incandescent layers of cloud and mist – a landscape
       impossibly illuminated only by a pure spectrum of ink
       and colour against a golden background. Painted in 1965,
       Ancient Temples Amidst Clouds stands among the greatest
       compositions in Zhang’s long and illustrious career. Suffused
       with a radiant and mysterious light, adorned with vivid
       splashes of green and blue morphing into expanses of rising
       clouds and vegetation, the precipitous peak is depicted with
       ancient temples that stand atop: displaying a tour de force of
       the unique aesthetic that makes Zhang Daqian one of the
       most provocative artists of the twentieth century.

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